Guidelines for AI Adoption in ASEAN

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a transformative technology driving changes across multiple sectors globally, including in ASEAN. AI is increasingly being applied in various industries such as healthcare, finance, logistics, and agriculture. Under the ASEAN Digital Masterplan 2025, ASEAN Member States (AMS) aim to adopt AI extensively, focusing on enhancing digital infrastructure, developing AI-related regulations and standards, promoting research and innovation, and building AI workforce capabilities. These efforts seek to bridge the digital divide among AMS. However, AI development and deployment raise ethical and societal concerns, necessitating a structured approach to responsible AI adoption for the benefit of all AMS.

ASEAN has established the ASEAN Guide on AI Governance and Ethics to oversee AI development and usage, emphasizing transparency, fairness, accountability, and security. ASEAN is also formulating AI ethics guidelines to address issues such as algorithmic bias, data privacy violations, and AI misuse.

Furthermore, ASEAN has introduced the ASEAN Responsible AI Roadmap 2025-2030 as a strategic framework for policymakers and stakeholders to foster an environment conducive to responsible and sustainable AI development and deployment. This Roadmap provides a structured approach for AMS governments, focusing on two key areas:

1. Policy and Regulatory Foundations – Establishing an enabling environment for responsible AI adoption through regulatory and policy frameworks.
2. Targeted Actions, Initiatives, and Outcomes – Ensuring AI is applied innovatively and sustainably while considering the priorities, needs, and capabilities into account of AMS.

The Roadmap is structured into two main approaches:

1. Cross-Cutting Roadmap:

• Skills and Capacity Building – Enhancing AI capabilities in both the public and private sectors, supporting AI startups and research, and expanding digital infrastructure to accommodate AI advancements.
• Fairness and Inclusion – Promoting AI design that includes diverse demographic groups and raising awareness about AI’s impact on vulnerable communities.
• Governance and Participation – Developing secure and trusted data-sharing platforms and enhancing and advancing multi-stakeholder dialogue on AI
• governance.
• Integration and Cooperation – Strengthening multiply cross-border collaboration initiatives on AI and AI governance and sustain global engagement and collaboration for responsible AI.

2. Targeted Roadmap

• Internal Governance Structures and Measures – Promoting awareness and supporting for the development and implementation of national AI policies, frameworks, strategies, and regulations.
• Skill and Knowledge for Responsible, AI-augmented Decision-Making – Promoting and strengthening skills, capabilities, and knowledge-sharing among the public and private sectors, educational institutions, and civil society to develop and deploy AI responsibly.
• Risk Mitigation, Monitoring Mechanisms, and Operations Management – Strengthening and promoting the use of risk mitigation and monitoring and evaluation tools across the public and private sectors to mitigate risks and biases, minimize harm from AI, and align with responsible AI principles.
• Stakeholder Coordination & Regional Cooperation on AI – Promoting regional efforts to develop common principles and a guiding approach to operationalizing responsible AI and align national efforts with the work of the ASEAN Working Group on AI Governance.

The Roadmap includes a Readiness Assessment Framework categorizing AMS into three levels:

1. Advanced – Countries with well-established AI policy frameworks and ecosystems.
2. Promising – Countries with AI adoption strategies that require further development.
3. Emerging – Countries that need to build fundamental AI infrastructure and policies.

This Roadmap serves as a strategic guide for AMS to effectively and responsibly integrate AI while aligning AI governance systems with international standards. Success in AI adoption requires collaboration among governments, private sector entities, and civil society to ensure AI contributes to sustainable economic and social development in ASEAN.

Further information can be found at https://asean.org/book/asean-responsible-ai-roadmap-2025-2030/

Author:
Ms. Namphueng Tassanaipitukkul
Senior Researcher
International Institute for Trade and Development (Public Organization)
www.itd.or.th
Publication: Bangkok BIZ Newspaper
Section: First Section/World Beat
Volume: 38 Issue: 12861
Date: Wednesday, Mar. 19, 2025
Page: 8 (bottom-left)
Column: “Asean Insight”